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Severe Tiredness Duloxetine 60mg

Posted , 11 users are following.

gabby53
gabby53

i have been taking Duloxetine for two years for depression and headache pain.  It has helped with both but has left me with the worst possible daytime tiredness.

I was tested for sleep apnea and found to have it mildly, I now sleep with a machine and have that under control but still want to sleep all day every day.

my Doctor said last week that maybe increasing Duloxetine/Cymbalta to 120mg it might have the adverse effect on my tiredness.

has anyone ever had this these extreme tiredness problems with this drug and heard of it being treated with higher doses.

i am currently upping my dose.  If that fails I will take myself completely off the drug which is a shame as it works well in the two areas I went on it for, it's just this overwhelming tiredness that is with me 24/7

1 like, 21 replies

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  • newbigtech
    newbigtech gabby53

    Posted

    Excercise is key to the tiredness. I was on 100 MG and upped it to 150 mg.. Was very wiped out all day long, started exercise and keeping busy as much as ossible..

    Now feel a lot better.

    Good luck..  Have your Doctor take you off it slowly.. I quit for 3 days and had crying fits.. Not recommended.. Talk to your Doctor.

    • gabby53
      gabby53 newbigtech

      Posted

      Thank you for yours reply.  I am still on the Cymbalta but am feeling very depressed at the moment as well as extremely tired.

      my Doctor wants to change me over to Lexapro.

      I want and need to do exercise and I can most definitely see where you are coming from but when you are feeling like this it is very hard to take that first step.

      I do intend to though.

      Thanks for your help.  I am pleased you are feeling so much better.

    • Zio10
      Zio10 gabby53

      Posted

      My Dad is 80 an started it for pain. Takes 30 mg an been on it for 8 months. He now has a tremor in rt hand an Dr thought he had Parkinson's. But scan on brain showed no Parkinson's. So prob Fr Duloxetin. Also very tired but he does have sleep apnea but had refused clap mask. Just recently agreed to try it. Has anyone had tremors Fr Cymbalta?
  • sarapainfree
    sarapainfree gabby53

    Posted

    hi my pain clinic have just asked my doctor to put me on a very high dose of this to help with my fibro pain are they any good?
    • gabby53
      gabby53 sarapainfree

      Posted

      Hi Sara, I take 120mg of Cymbalta once a day for daily migraine pain and I feel it has given me great help and eased a lot of pain on a continued basis.

      The only thing I am not happy about is the fact that it makes me extremely tired.

      other than that I have been very pappy with it for helping with my pain.

  • Dieseldog
    Dieseldog gabby53

    Posted

    Oh my word gabby, I started taking duloxatin about two years ago and the fatigue has been getting worse and worse, I literaly collapse every two days and I mean so flat I don't change position for days, I'm on morohine and gabapentin both of which I have cut down to below the bare minimum. I'm reading fatigue fatigue fatigue the more I investigate this toxin, I've swutched to escitralopran in the last few weeks and I'm still the same !   Have a look on facebook sites cymbalta hurts worse . And cymbalta pros and cons.x
    • gabby53
      gabby53 Dieseldog

      Posted

      Hi Dieseldog, you sound exactly like me with the sleeping.

      I am getting no better, I continue to use my sleep machine because I have a better nights sleep, I don't wake up all night but if I wanted I could sleep all day every day.  I'm scared to come off the cymbalta in case my headaches get worse and also because of what I've heard about the withdrawal but maybe it's time for me to come off as I have absolutely no quality of life the way I am now.

      Thank you for the information about the Facebook sites, I shall definitely go and check them out.  People just don't understand do they?

      I wish I had something positive to tell you.  Good luck.

    • Dieseldog
      Dieseldog gabby53

      Posted

      Hi gabby are you in the uk ??  I had terrible migraines when I was young and I was on dixarit daily and a pain killer called parahyphon, I know the fix dixarit is still available. I think we are being constantly thrown a pill and left to  deal with it on our own, I've gone into bad morphine withdrawal today after switching meds down to tapentadol, wasn't warned of this at all although I had a feeling it would happen, so I had to take double the dose of morphine to tidy myself up, I'm at breaking point now and am seriously thinking sod it I will call it a day and then someone will go through the mill for keep mucking me about.
    • gabby53
      gabby53 Dieseldog

      Posted

      Hi Dieseldog, no I am in Australia.  I shall look those drugs up.  I haven't heard of them but they may come under a different name over here.

      If you are going through morphine withdrawal I know how you feel, been there, done that.  You have to be so careful when coming down off that.

      What are you taking it for, you didn't say.

      i know longer take any opiates or anything with codeine in.  They got too much of a hold on me about five years ago after being on them for 20odd years.  I now take an opiate blocker under supervision called Suoxone.  It is also a painkiller to some degree and I can take nothing else stronger than Panadol, aspirin and ibuprofen.  Hence why I stick with the Cymbalta regardless of the tiredness because that also gives me some small amount of pain relief to my daily migraines.

      please don't think about calling it a day, there has to be help out there for you.

      I never thought I would ever get off that awful drug roundabout and continuous pain but here I am pain has been halved and I am taking over the counter meds. which I never thought I would see the day.  Any addiction I had to those horrid drugs is gone.  Of course I take my Suboxone which has been a lifesaver.  I hate to think where I would have been now without it and the good Doctor that helped me.

      Sorry for raving on.  Thank you for mentioning those drugs, I shall look them up and if there are no opiates or codeine in them I maybe able to give them a go.

       

    • gabby53
      gabby53 Dieseldog

      Posted

      Dieseldog, I have been looking at those Facebook sites you told me about, they are indeed frightening.  I must say when I have tried to come off the drug in the past the only things I have noticed is my headaches get worse and I get low in mood but it ha ever come right off it.

      After reading a lot of that it makes me scared to want to try again to tell you the truck.  It would have to be very slow indeed.

  • Zio10
    Zio10 gabby53

    Posted

    My father,as I posted before, is 80 an was put on Duloxetin back in Feb of 15. 30mg only for osteoarthritis. He was on Hydrocodone #10's. It helped with pain. But as the months have gone by he has gotten more an more in active. Now he does basically nothing but lay in bed an get up at 8,12 & 5 for homehealth nurse to check sugar an blood pressure. Stays in his robe. Not active. Its now affecting his congestive heart failure fr no exercise. He's gained wt. Sweats horribly when even going to Dr an walking to the exam room. Covered in sweat. Im not absolutely positive if its all Cymbalta but he does have essential tremors an the Duloxetin has made them worse. In my experience,Lexapro is an non-activating antidepressant. I took it for 3 mmonths. All I wanted to do was sleep. Had to take it at night. Gained wt. Have you talked about Zoloft or Effexor? They all have their own unique side effects so trial an error I guess. Now you better definitely taper down off Duloxetin. It is horrible on withdrawls. I took it also. Stopped the fibromyalgia pain but nothing for depression. I tapered fr 60 to 30 for 8 days then stopped. Horrible head aches dizzy, nauseated. Crying anxiety. So be careful
    • gabby53
      gabby53 Zio10

      Posted

      Hi Zio, thanks for your mail.  I am sorry your dear dad can't find a suitable drug.  No I have never experienced tremors with Cymbalta.  I have no other side effects except the extreme tiredness.

      i have tried Effexor but that didn't suit.  As you say they all come with their own different side effects.

      I am thinking of slowly coming off the Cymbalta soon but I will definitely take at least about three weeks to come off completely.

      I feel sure it helps me with my head pain so that makes me nervous to come off them, it's a trade off.

      All the very best to you and your dad.

       

  • helen1771
    helen1771 gabby53

    Posted

    I am on 60mg twice a day and since taking duloxetine I am getting to sleep easier at night and wake with some energy which I haven't done before but I have found I am shattered by 3pm, but then come back round. Last week I was being sick so I missed taking 2 tablets and didn't think much of it but for 4 days everytime I lifted my head up or stood I felt as though I was going to faint. It was one of the worse feelings in the world I felt so poorly. When I went to the doctors he told me to take all my tablets that day and by the following day I felt so much better. I found it  actually very scary how these side effects hit me and I have only been taking it for 10 weeks 
    • gabby53
      gabby53 helen1771

      Posted

      Hi Helen, thanks for your letter. I take 2@60mg tablet once a day in the evening.  I have been on them for about three years now.  I think it has to be these that are making me so sleepy every day.

      I am concerned about coming off them in case my headaches start to get worse again.  You have to work out which is the worst of two evils.

      I would definitely come off them very, very slowly over several weeks to try and miss out on withdrawals.

      If you find Cymbalta are helping you and the sleepiness isn't interfering with your life I would stick with them but if over time you notice the tiredness getting worse I would come off them because my tiredness has definitely increased more and more over time.

      Good luck to you.

  • gloria_231946
    gloria_231946 gabby53

    Posted

    As you say Duloxatine does what it says on the box but for me

    too it makes me weary.Its the only med that helps fibro and chronic pain as well as depression.It gives me insomnia and constipation so I dont take it continually which I know is not right but it works for me. Cant see how taking 120 mg will improve your

    tiredness but perhaps your doctor does!Trouble is he/she has

    probably never taken it its all guess work.

    • gabby53
      gabby53 gloria_231946

      Posted

      I take 120 to help with depression, anxiety and pain and put up with the tiredness.

      I have tried coming off it at times but each symptom gets worse.

      Im in between the devil and the deep blue sea.

      I definitely do not suffer from insomnia, I can go to sleep anywhere anytime at the click of your fingers.

      I also suffer with constipation but I have done most of my life, so don't worry too much about that.

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